"We wanna watch Adult Swim, not some sissy ass shows!"
That one John K. Adult Swim bumper reminds me WHY John K sucks so much, and I am glad he is now culturally irrelevant. John Kricfalusi is a legitimate homophobe. I mean, he seems to REALLY hate gay people with a passion. He also hates the mentally disabled, and is the type of butthole who will talk smack about Schindler's List. But it's the homophobia that sort of shocked me when Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon hit.
I always assumed Ren and Stimpy were gay. And I always thought that was part of the joke. Many classic cartoon duos could be confused for gay couples due their ridiculous physical closeness. It's not just Ren and Stimpy. There is a case to be made for Yogi and Boo-Boo, Fred and Barney, Bert and Ernie, Scooby and Shaggy, Peppermint Patty and Marcie, and Batman and Robin. I assumed the joke was that kids cartoons often had inexplicable sexual innuendo, and the joke with Ren and Stimpy was that they were doing it deliberately. I didn't put any more thought into it than that.
Then when APC aired I realized something horrible. Ren and Stimpy being gay wasn't simply a part of their personalities or their friendship. John K was actually trying to say they were disgusting and crazy for it. John K portrays their homosexuality as proof that they are messed up and horrible people. And until the "pitcher and the catcher" joke, I didn't realize Ren and Stimpy being gay was actually a slam. I thought it was subversive, but I thought John K was poking fun at the censors, and not Ren and Stimpy themselves.
There is no difference in intent between John K's meditations on gays than Andrew Dice Clay's. None whatsoever.
Seth MacFarlane and Trey Parker and Matt Stone tell offensive jokes about women, gays, and minorities too, but the difference there is that while the individual jokes are stereotypical, the message of the episode in which they occur is usually something like "Being gay is normal and not a choice" or "Racism is wrong". That's why they get away with it. John K has literally never done that. Ever. Not once. He likes to make fun of queers and retards and he is absolutely sincere in how much he hates them. And if you call him on it, he'll claim the problem is you not understanding the brilliance of his cartoons. I understand them quite well, thank you very much. John Kricfalusi is a bigot. That's the only message that I can possibly get from them.
I also find it rich that John seems to put the subtext in his cartoons that he had a bad childhood due to his conservative father. I'm calling b.s.. John K's attitudes toward people who cannot defend themselves reek of a life of privilege. He probably had about as bad a childhood as a white upper class kid with no real problems could possibly have. Yeah, I bet his father was an ahole. But so is he, so I don't see why he should get sympathy for that.
I should do a post about Ralph Bakshi and his racism sometime, but his bigotry is practically non-existent compared to John K. While the way Bakshi treats black people in his movies is outright condescending, his racism seems more clueless than anything. He truly doesn't understand why Al Sharpton would hate Coonskin. He's not jiving under pretense of political correctness. He sincerely doesn't understand what the problem is. John K on the other hand is deliberately as offensive to possible to as many people as possible. And he is unapologetic about what a turd he is. Which is why I'm glad he crashed and burned when he did.
I always assumed Ren and Stimpy were gay. And I always thought that was part of the joke. Many classic cartoon duos could be confused for gay couples due their ridiculous physical closeness. It's not just Ren and Stimpy. There is a case to be made for Yogi and Boo-Boo, Fred and Barney, Bert and Ernie, Scooby and Shaggy, Peppermint Patty and Marcie, and Batman and Robin. I assumed the joke was that kids cartoons often had inexplicable sexual innuendo, and the joke with Ren and Stimpy was that they were doing it deliberately. I didn't put any more thought into it than that.
Then when APC aired I realized something horrible. Ren and Stimpy being gay wasn't simply a part of their personalities or their friendship. John K was actually trying to say they were disgusting and crazy for it. John K portrays their homosexuality as proof that they are messed up and horrible people. And until the "pitcher and the catcher" joke, I didn't realize Ren and Stimpy being gay was actually a slam. I thought it was subversive, but I thought John K was poking fun at the censors, and not Ren and Stimpy themselves.
There is no difference in intent between John K's meditations on gays than Andrew Dice Clay's. None whatsoever.
Seth MacFarlane and Trey Parker and Matt Stone tell offensive jokes about women, gays, and minorities too, but the difference there is that while the individual jokes are stereotypical, the message of the episode in which they occur is usually something like "Being gay is normal and not a choice" or "Racism is wrong". That's why they get away with it. John K has literally never done that. Ever. Not once. He likes to make fun of queers and retards and he is absolutely sincere in how much he hates them. And if you call him on it, he'll claim the problem is you not understanding the brilliance of his cartoons. I understand them quite well, thank you very much. John Kricfalusi is a bigot. That's the only message that I can possibly get from them.
I also find it rich that John seems to put the subtext in his cartoons that he had a bad childhood due to his conservative father. I'm calling b.s.. John K's attitudes toward people who cannot defend themselves reek of a life of privilege. He probably had about as bad a childhood as a white upper class kid with no real problems could possibly have. Yeah, I bet his father was an ahole. But so is he, so I don't see why he should get sympathy for that.
I should do a post about Ralph Bakshi and his racism sometime, but his bigotry is practically non-existent compared to John K. While the way Bakshi treats black people in his movies is outright condescending, his racism seems more clueless than anything. He truly doesn't understand why Al Sharpton would hate Coonskin. He's not jiving under pretense of political correctness. He sincerely doesn't understand what the problem is. John K on the other hand is deliberately as offensive to possible to as many people as possible. And he is unapologetic about what a turd he is. Which is why I'm glad he crashed and burned when he did.